


The Art of Procrastination

by AuthorForHire



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Daddy Issues, Dark, Gen, Link is hesitating, Questioning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 12:37:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13213917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuthorForHire/pseuds/AuthorForHire
Summary: Link is forced to sit and wait for the rain to stop while scaling a mountain. He has some troubling thoughts fester while he waits.





	The Art of Procrastination

Link winced as another large raindrop managed to splash onto him. He was trying to stay as far away from it as possible by hiding in a small indention in the cliff face, but it didn't seem to be helping much. His entire left side was drenched and the right side wasn't much better. He wanted to build a fire of some kind, but the small hole he was in was far too cramped and the floor was uneven. If he placed down any wood, it only rolled off and down the side of the cliff.

The champion let out a sigh. The rain wasn't going to let up anytime soon, which meant he was stuck here for the time being. He couldn't scale up or down the mountain, and he need to make it to the top. He couldn't just wharp away to the nesrest village, not when he was so close to the top of this thing.

A bitter chuckle passed his lips. He had the motivation and willingness to wait for hours in a wet hole than get this entire adventure over with. How selfish could he be?

Zelda, spending one hundred years and counting waiting for Link, was waiting even more because the 'hero' was selfish. He could make up excuses, he had tons of them. He had to help Sidon, he had to find the rest of the shrines to "prepare for the battle", he needed better weapons, he needed to stock up on food, excuses and more excuses. 

He had the "darkness sealing" sword, he had trained himself to endure as much damage and fatigue as he possibly could, he had freed the champion spirits and reclaimed the divine beasts, so now the only thing left to dowas defest calamity ganon. 

So why is he scaling a damn mountain instead? To visit a shrine he didn't need? Pathetic.

_Pathetic._ The word stung, and he knew someone in his earlier life had constantly called him that. 

Maybe it was Revali. Every memory he had of him was rude and seemingly displeased. Maybe Zelda was the one who called him that. She seemed to resent him, and while the gerudo woman (He wished he could remember names well. He never seemed to remember much of anyone nowadays.) claimed it was because of Zelda's own fears and resentments, he never shook the feeling she somehow hated him. Maybe it was his father. He didn't have memories of his father, just feelings and small voices he heard in his head. 

_'Get to work, boy.'_  
_'You aren't finished until I say we're finished.'_  
_'You have a destiny to fulfill, boy.'_  
_'Quit playing around!'  
_'Pathetic, stupid child.'__

__

__

The feelings and words all sparked bitter resentment inside of him, though he hadn't a reason why. He had no memories of a father, he only remembered what Zelda had told him. 

_"Your path seems to mirror your father's. You've dedicated yourself to becoming a knight as well."_

He wished he remembered his father. Goddeses, he wished he remembered anything. Watching the hopeful light fade from people's eyes when he admitted to not having a memory. The disappointment hurt worse than the task they had set out for him. Maybe that was why he liked Sidon so much. He welcomed Link with open arms without any care as to who he was or his quest. He was the one who had true belief in him, and hadn't the shameful and disappointed look that came with his name or his identity as an ancient champion.

Link let a humorless chuckle pass his lips. Him? A champion? What a joke. He wasn't a champion. He was a failure. A pathetic failure. Zelda, in the end, was able to fulfill her role. The champions were fulfilling theirs as well. The only one who hadn't met their fate was him. He had to seal away Ganon. Again. And then do it again, some other century later.

He couldn't help the bitter seed of resentment that came with praying at a goddess statute. If the Goddess was so almighty, so powerful, why had they failed? Hell, why did calamity ganon exist? What was the point of existing when your only purpose is to fight and fail?

Was that his only purpose? To fight the calamity? To seal away the darkness for a limited time and then seal it away again in another lifetime?

Tears of frustration welled in his eyes as he thought of the uselessness of this battle. In was an endless cycle that never stopped and only ended in death and a temporary "peace." Peace, more like purgatory for the champion. 

Perhaps this was the reason why he was hesitating. He wanted have purpose. An actual purpose for living. Once the calmaity was defeated, if the calamity was defeated, what was the point of living anymore? That would be the end of his chapter, the end of his story until he was reincarnated. What happened next wouldn't matter, it was only a matter of time until he did it again.

Did Zelda struggle with these thoughts? The idea of uselessness and finding a purpose? No, Link figured. She has a purpose and a job after the calmity has fallen. She has to lead Hyrule back to being a stable country again. But what would Link do? He would more than likely protect her, but from what? The Yiga Clan? His entire life he would be living for someone else. His life was always a fight for something other than himself.

But the fight in his heart had long been silent.

He looked outside. The rain had finally stopped, and a beautiful view of a dying country greeted him. The castle was still swarming with blight, and monsters still ravenged the land. He ignored all of it woth a guilt in his heart, and began to make his way up the rocks. 

He wasn't ready to face that useless battle. Not today.


End file.
